Thermal imaging can be crucial to give early warnings of developing fires, but it’s also used to detect impurities and defects in many other industrial processes. Visionaries 2024 nominee Markus Tarin explains how MoviTHERM uses the technology in its cloud-based and real-time systems.
Name: Markus Tarin
Company: MoviTHERM
Role: President & CEO
Location: Irvine, CA, US
Over 20 years ago, MoviMED evolved from providing medical devices, systems and support in the healthcare community of southern California, to the expanding and fast-moving machine vision, movement detection and inspection sector and introduced MoviTHERM to the market, soon developing “one of the first automated thermal imaging systems,” states MoviTHERM President & CEO, Markus Tarin.
MoviTHERM's IoT Cloud-based early fire detection software uses thermal imaging. Image: MoviTHERM
As a thermal imaging product integrator, MoviTHERM now provides “solutions for intelligent early fire detection, condition and process monitoring, quality inspection for package sealing applications and infrared non-destructive testing for aerospace structures.” But the innovation that stands MoviTHERM and Tarin out as Visionaries in machine vision, is the company’s recently-launched IoT Cloud-based smart early fire detection solution, which utilises thermal imaging technology.
Democratic early-warning fire detection
“We have developed an AI-capable intelligent IoT Gateway and Cloud Monitoring Platform for the early detection of hot spots,” explains Tarin, of the technology. The use of thermal imaging means that, prior to the development of any smoke and flame, the system is capable of detecting a soon-to-be fire and alerting the user before major damage can occur. As the system is run from and connected to the Cloud, it’s far easier both to install and operate, and to integrate with other security systems. “It’s truly a disruptive technology as it removes the need for software and PC or any design or engineering,” says Tarin. “It is truly plug&play and the customer can easily self-install the solution and be up and running in minutes.”
“It removes the need for software and PC or any design or engineering”
The ability to detect, and therefore warn about, fires quickly crucially means disasters can be averted and lives saved, of course, but it can also have financial and operational benefits, such as “no more water damage from sprinklers, no more damage from smoke and fire. No more catastrophic losses,” as Tarin is quick to point out. “We have also been able to make this technology very affordable, allowing for large-scale installation.” And the result of lowering the price point at which fire detection is both available and operational, will have as big an impact as the technology itself.
Innovation across multiple sectors and platforms
As a Vision Professional – Advanced Level, accredited by the Association for Advancing Automation, Tarin’s MoviTHERM is sent economic forecasts on various relevant industry sectors and utilises the association to constantly review and develop its own standards. Striving to stay ahead of the curve on innovation, for example, is one of the ways Tarin ensures MoviTHERM can differentiate itself from competitors. “We constantly innovate,” said Tarin, and “look for cost-effective, scalable solutions that benefit our customers. We often out-innovate our own solutions with the next generation [for example]. The Innovators Dilemma! We’re extremely passionate about creating the next innovative and disruptive technology to bring thermal imaging solutions to the masses,” said Tarin, “we often succeed where the [rest of the] industry has tried and failed.”
Other innovative services using thermal imaging
Rather than just detecting developing fires, thermal imaging technology can be put to a variety of other uses, and MoviTHERM is an integrator of these kinds of systems, too. As opposed to manual inspection or even pressure testing, for example, using thermal imaging for quality seal inspection has multiple benefits including speed, safety, cost, accuracy and reliability. High-performance infrared cameras are able to see the residual heat from the thermal sealing process, meaning non-contact temperature measurements performed by thermal imaging can inspect multiple seals at once and provide feedback in real-time, all without damaging the sealed item.
“We often out-innovate our own solutions”
Infrared cameras, meanwhile, can look for further defects than just sub-standard seals. Using various active thermography tests such as transient (using halogen light for extended heat excitation), flash (analysing excitation after hitting the subject with xenon light) and lock-in (synchronising excitation with an infrared camera), active thermography can detect defects such as voids, delaminations, corrosion, porosity, contamination, thickness variation and the presence of water in a range of materials.
Thermal imaging is used for quality seal inspections. Image: MoviTHERM
As cracks are not the only issues that commonly affect electrical, mechanical or other operational equipment, MoviTHERM also points out that infrared cameras’ ability to see temperature variations, along with other capabilities of visible cameras and vibration sensors, can be helpful to provide more holistic asset health management, keeping users aware of any changes in their equipment’s conditions.
Managing customer expectations with technology test drives
No matter how revolutionary a system is, however, if a customer has higher – or even just alternative – expectations that a product simply is not designed to deliver, they will walk away unhappy. “We always start with a detailed discovery call to explore the exact needs, challenges and expectations of our customers,” says Tarin, explaining how MoviTHERM deals with the issue of unrealistic end-user expectations. “If we sense a mismatch, we try to close the gap by demonstrating the technology online.”
“We start with a detailed discovery call to explore the exact needs of our customers”
And if Tarin and his customer service team still believe mismatched expectations exist, the company also offers a “low-risk pilot programme to test-drive our technology in their real-world applications. We take our system back should it not meet the customers’ expectations,” but, installing confidence in the products and integrated systems provided by MoviTHERM, “it hasn’t happened yet!”
In the middle, between user and vendor
As an integrator of thermal imaging-based vision, MoviTHERM is a consistent buyer of machine vision cameras, image processing software, optics, lenses, AI and deep learning services and software and cabling and accessories to support their systems, and always on the lookout for new and innovative products, with Tarin sharing that limited feature sets on cameras is one of the biggest issues they face when designing a new system.
“A good vendor provides lead-time estimates that shorten our delivery times”
Another common issue faced by the company, is long product lead times. Lead times are unavoidable and understandable, of course, in a sector that relies on near-bespoke solutions, but “good customer service from our vendors,” suggests Tarin, would mean “providing us with exact lead time estimates and [information on] products in stock.” This would “help shorten our delivery times to our customers. A good vendor,” suggests Tarin, would be one which “supports our go-to-market strategy with respect to [offering] reliable technology and favourable price-performance points.”
Thermal imaging is one of a number of techniques MoviTHERM uses for automated visual inspection. Image: MoviTHERM
“Another area of improvement,” suggests Tarin, when asked how machine vision vendors can improve their service, “would be to respond to requests and suggestions faster.” As an accredited member of the Association for Advancing Automation, and with the economic forecasts on relevant industry sectors the accreditation supplies them with, MoviTHERM has “a very good feel for what the market needs from a solutions perspective,” continues Tarin. “Having the right product positioning is paramount to our and our vendors’ success. And ultimately, our customers’ needs.”
Skills gap a challenge for the sector
After named 2024 Visionary Tommy Svedlund – Manager of Swedvision Automation – previously referenced “finding competent personnel” as one of the biggest challenges faced by a growing vision-related business, Markus Tarin of MoviTHERM has seconded the suggestion, stating that “finding the right employees with the right skill-sets to add to our team” would be their biggest challenge to overcome in the next 12 months.
Markus Tarin has been named as one of Imaging & Machine Vision Europe’s ‘Visionaries’ for 2024. Find out how to apply and nominate others to be recognised as a Visionary for groundbreaking work in the vision sector, here:
